Chapter 12
They walked in silence, the two guards behind them. The feeble winter sun still hadn’t risen at nearly seven. Iris recognized other families heading toward the middle of town, each with their own armed escorts. Everyone moving in the same direction, at least for now.
Iris forced her free hand to her side, away from the small bulge in her pocket.
When they turned onto Main Street, Iris saw two groups forming in the distance. Women and children in front of the log-fronted sugar barn, and men beside the brick school building on the other side of a graveled parking lot. Guards surrounded both, but the ones around the men held their rifles in their hands rather than slung over their shoulders.
“Taking volunteers, are you?” her mother said. She held her husband’s hand, her knuckle
